Death's Lonely Survivor
"It just takes a common enemy to make a friend"
- Chlorpromazine by the Agonist
Chapter 1: I Have No Reason to Live. Misunderstanding the Veil's Purpose and a New World
The battle was gruesome, but the ending was tragic.
Hadrian Potter looked towards the eastern sky, seeing the sun slowly rise over what was once Hogwarts. The sun illuminated the now barren wasteland, filled with nothing but rubble and corpses. Tears filled Harry's eyes as he looked at the scene in front of him. Guilt churned in his heart knowing he had taken too long to decide on whether he should continue with the battle at hand or finally be reunited with his family in peace. He had obviously chosen to continue fighting with his friends but his decision took too long and by the time he came back to the world of the living, everyone had either fled or were already dead.
To add insult to injury, death had appeared after he had finally defeated Voldemort. Being the last living descendant of the Peverell family and having come into contact with all three hollows, death had declared him his master. A title Harry had never wanted.
After the declaration death, had left Harry with the three hollows, which had turned into a mess of liquid ink that sunk into the skin of both of his wrists. His wrists flared with pin pricks of pain, like someone was jabbing them with a needle. It lasted two minutes before the pain resided and his wrists were left with two symbols. On his left wrist was the symbol of the deathly hollows and on his right wrist show the Celtic symbol of immortality. Both symbols were bold and black against his pale skin. Further they both enforced that he was now deaths master, that he was now immortal and that he would always be alone. Something Harry never wanted.
"Death!" He screamed to the sky, but death did not answer. "Death!" He screamed again and he heard a faint whisper in the wind "Yes Master". Harry looked towards the sun again, before making his expression blank "Just kill me" he said closing his eyes "I have no reason to live anymore. I only came back here to save my friends but there dead, everyone is dead. So just kill me and be done with it". He waited patiently for minutes before death answered "The Veil" was all death said before it was silent once more.
It took Harry roughly fifteen minutes to find the Veil in what was once the Ministry of Magic. Amongst the rubble and chaos, the Veil looked remarkably untouched by the war. As if sensing his presence, the veil glowed dimly as if enticing him towards it.
"Death" he called out again "will this really kill me?" he questioned sceptically, as of right now he was immortal and he did not know the properties of the veil that well. "In a way, it will" death stated without showing himself. "What do you mean?" he asked death "You will no longer exist in this reality but you will in another. Being the master of death you can't actually die" "But people have stated that once a person has entered the veil they are never seen again" He argued. Death sighed "Once a person has entered the veil they are then taken to a different reality, once in that reality a person can never come back to the previous reality. Though which reality you are sent to is unknown"
Harry thought over what death had just revealed to him. Being sent to another reality didn't sound that bad to him, going to a reality where you previously didn't exist meant a clean slate. You could become anyone or anything without prosecution or judgement. He may even be able to see Sirius once again if the veil was really a transporter rather than an executioner.
"I understand that your godfather had fallen into the veil and that you are relieved that there may be a possibility that he is alive. But the likelihood of you ending up in the same reality as your godfather is a billion to one. I would rather you not get your hopes up before you make this decision" death stated, interrupting his thoughts.
"I see, but given the chance to live somewhere completely unknown is better than living for eternity in a land that is dead" Harry said before walking towards the veil, stopping right before it. "If you accept the risk of landing practically anywhere then just walk through the veil and you will wake up somewhere different" Harry nodded and just stood there before nodding again and walked straight through the veil.
Harry felt like he was falling for hours before it suddenly stopped. A sudden wave of exhaustion went through him as he felt a panel of wood underneath his fingers. Opening his eyes slowly he saw the bright glow of the moon and the sides of a ship, before turning his head to the left to see a sheep figure head at the front of it "How strange" Harry said before losing consciousness.
Luffy woke up in the middle of the night strangely alert. He looked around the men's sleeping quarters, seeing all of his crew bar Nami, Robin and Zoro asleep. Nami and Robin being girls and Zoro being scheduled for night watch that night. Though Luffy was still confused as to why he had woken up at all. There was no shout from Zoro that there was a problem and all of his crew were asleep.
A gurgle came from Luffy's stomach, making him get out of his hammock and venture towards the kitchen, seeing as Sanji was fast asleep. Making his was to the deck of the ship Luffy tripped falling flat on his face. He turned to see what had tripped him only to pause when he saw a boy around the same age as him in torn clothing and covered in blood.
"Hey" Luffy said shaking the stranger for a few minutes but became more concerned when he got no reply, was the stranger even alive? "Chopper! Hey Chopper! Wake up!" Luffy called out. He heard a sound of fumbling coming from the men's quarters as the door opened. It appeared Chopper wasn't the only person he had woken up as everyone bar Zoro (who had probably fallen asleep during night watch again) walked out, Chopper at the front of the pack.
Chopper rubbed his eyes with the back of his hoof before looking at Luffy "What is it Luffy" Luffy didn't answer but instead pointed to the boy on the deck. Chopper and everyone else followed his finger before seeing the boy themselves. Chopper began to panic seeing the state that the boy was in and immediately asked both Luffy and Usopp to bring him inside. Sanji stayed on the deck, lighting up a cigarette before looking at the moon "How did he get on our ship with such injuries?"
Sanji asked but no one answered.